The Persians lost to France 79-62 in Group A of the men’s basketball in 2020 Olympic Games. Iran went 0-3, which was also expected.
Former NBA center Hamed Haddadi had 18 points and 12 rebounds for Iran. Kazemi finished with 11 points and hopes that things would be better for Iran next time it qualifies for the Olympics.
“It’s really tough,” Kazemi said. “It’s really sad and I’m just hoping for a better future.”
He said Iran had a couple tune-up games against Spain and three against host Japan. Meanwhile, the USA hosted Spain, Australia, Argentina and Nigeria in Las Vegas for exhibition opponents that were good enough to make up an Olympic semifinals.
“They have their training came in Las Vegas, they stay in one time zone,” Kazemi said of those clubs. “These five games that we played, I traveled through maybe six different time zones to be able to play in these games.”
But the Iranians were better prepared when they last played in the Olympics in 2008, having been invited to play in the summer league in Salt Lake City, home of the Utah Jazz.